Through The Customers Eyes
by Diana LaSalle

A technology company was concerned because the renewal rate on their service contracts was rapidly declining. No one could come up with a good reason for the losses until the CTO came in one day with an advertisement. It was for a third party service company promising real people answering the phone and a dedicated service team. Everyone at the table nodded and shrugged and then went back to talking, but the CTO wasn't finished. He set a tape recorder on the table, pushed play and a familiar ring brought everyone to attention. What followed was the voice of their automated answering system. It droned on and on with options until finally they heard the prompt for reporting service issues. It was #9 of 11 possible choices and that was just the beginning. From there this caller with a problem was asked to punch in endless numbers followed by a long wait in Musak limbo. A competitor picked up on the annoying experience, improved on it and was systematically picking off their customers.

Every day people have experiences like this. Whether it's making a call to customer service, seeing an ad or opening a package, each interaction (and there are a lot of them) has the potential or make or break a relationship. That's why it's so important to know exactly what customers go through when doing business with you. When you do, you have a better chance of saving yourself, sometimes from yourself.

The Customer's Journey
The best way we've found to identify all the experiences a customer engages in is to take a journey; a five-stop road trip so to speak through the consumption process. Every customer goes through one or more of these stages each time they purchase, use and even recommend a product or service.

Stage One: Discover

As marketers we think of discovery as advertising, PR and any number of tools to let consumers know we're here. But for customers, this stage is the one where people have an impulse to buy and then identify the possible resources to satisfy that impulse. That impulse can originate in several ways. It can be self-induced. You wake up one morning, hate everything about your house, and decide to remodel. Time for a home equity loan. Impulses can also be company induced. You open up your mail, see home equity interest rates are down. Good time to remodel you think. Or the impulse to buy can be situation induced. Your roof starts leaking, yep, time for a home equity loan.

When looking at Discover in this way, from the customer's perspective, we see that two-thirds of the time the impulse to buy originates with the customer. This means business doesn't have to convince people to buy. They just have to be available and easy to find when the impulse occurs. It's also a fact that when a purchase is the customer's idea they're usually less likely to be disappointed. As marketers we need to be especially sensitive to this stage and not overload consumers with unwanted messages. Not sure if you're doing the right thing? When in doubt, just ask, "How would I feel about this?"

Stage Two: Evaluate

This is where we chose from the available resources identified in stage one. The Internet has become one of the most important tools of evaluation. The best sites give us all the information we need to make a decision, even if a competitor or alternative solution is ultimately what's best. The Rogaine hair loss treatment site is a great example of this concept. So is Progressive Insurance. The Internet of course isn't the only way customers evaluate which product and company offer the best choice; friends, colleagues, articles, literature or sales people, can also be part of the process. Just remember that at this point customers only want companies to communicate and differentiate value. If there's a value match, people will buy.

Stage Three: Acquire

This stage covers all the events surrounding a purchase and oddly enough it's where so many experience nightmares occur. How many of you have gone through the whole online order form process and entered in your credit card number only to have the form kick back saying your number is incorrect, even when it isn't? Drives you crazy doesn't it. So do long lines, busy signals, merchandise you can't reach, full parking lots, back-ordered items, invisible sales associates, snotty cashiers and shopping carts with busted wheels. (Ah, now you're feeling like a customer, aren't you!) If companies did nothing but focus on this stage, the one where we want to give them money, we'd all be a lot happier. As marketers you can help your clients or company understand the importance of this stage. Improvements can then be turned into value points in your marketing.

Stage Four: Integrate

This is where customers bring a product or service into their lives. It governs things like using, storing, disposing, waiting, help lines, service and repair, anything you do after money changes hands. It also governs packaging. Consumer wars have been won and lost on packaging alone. One hair salon had this great waiting area, very chic. The problem was, you had to be a size six to sit in their chairs. For a business that is supposed to make people feel better about themselves, this was a real experience faux pas. By acting as your company's customer advocate, you can help them avoid such disasters.

Stage Five: Extend

The main purpose of this stage is to build a lasting relationship with customers based on something other than a product or service. As consumers we have many choices and if all we have to go on is product, service and price, we're going to go for the best deal. But when a company understands that customers are more than check books and connects with them on some other level, that connection often leads to loyalty. Campbell Soup's Labels for Education program is one of the most successful loyalty programs of all time because they tap into people's desire to help their children and community. Nike, through their association with star athletes, inspires people to dig deep and make something more of themselves. My Pilates trainer says Nike may not have the best gear on the market, but she's fiercely loyal because she believes they understand her better than any other company. When you build this kind of relationship with customers, you get to pass go (or in this case discover and evaluate) and proceed directly to acquire. And ultimately isn't that what we all want?

You can conduct an customer experience audit by identifying the interactions your customers have with you in each of the five stages. Once each interaction has been identified you'll need to do an honest evaluation of the impact and value of the experience. It's not as much work as it sounds and the value to your business really is priceless.